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Chicken Riggies

If you’ve ever been to Utica, New York, you’ll recognize chicken riggies but if you haven’t, here they are!

New York Comfort

New York is famous for many foods. That’s probably because it has such a diverse population.

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Even though most non-natives think of New York City when they hear “New York,” this is a pretty big state and each region has their famous food.

Italian Influence In The Mohawk Valley

This recipe originated in Utica, New York, which is in the Mohawk Valley region.

Utica has a large population of Italian descent. The Italian influence comes through in this recipe!

It has standard “Italian” ingredients such as pasta and tomato sauce, but this one also includes a highly flavorful chicken element.

One thing about this recipe is that it uses several pots, so there’s some cleanup involved with this. Even though it resembles a skillet dinner, it simply cannot be made in one pot. However, I find this dish so tasty that I don’t mind the cleanup–and that’s going far the way I am nowadays (old and lazy).

Marinated Chicken Adds Great Flavor

The special flavor in chicken riggies comes from the chicken.

It’s marinated in a sherry and herb mixture that is fantastic! The sherry is the acidity in the marinade, but it also adds yumminess.

The sherry is essential in the chicken marinade. If you don’t have dry sherry, then any dry white wine would be an acceptable substitute.

Offhand, I cannot give a good substitute for the sherry/wine that is non-alcoholic. You might try lemon or pineapple juice, but it would likely result in an inferior taste.

Cherry Peppers Yes/No

I’ll never forget the first time I tasted hot cherry peppers. I was a kid and thought they were green olives. O.M.G.

Anyway, most recipes for chicken riggies call for hot cherry peppers in the sauce. I didn’t have any on hand so I used red pepper flakes in their place.

The sauce really doesn’t have any herbs or spices in it, so it would be rather bland without the hot pepper influence. I do suggest using the cherry peppers as they have a lot of flavor, and yes, as an adult, I learned to appreciate their taste!

As I mentioned, they are quite hot (at least to my taste) but the heat is offset by the sauce’s creaminess. And yes, the sauce is very rich, so this isn’t a diet dish by any means.